Conundrum
by GeishaGorgeous
Summary: The year is 1983. One day a mysterious puzzle box called the Lament Configuration quite literally falls into the possession of Henry Sturges. He knows full well what the box is and what opening it can unleash. The only question is...will he play its game?
1. Chapter 1

Henry Sturges sat in the car.

Fidgeted with the keys.

Took them out of the ignition.

Dropped them onto his lap.

He had been debating with himself for the past two hours. There was no way of getting away from the damn box. He knew that. He had known that from the beginning. It hadn't stopped him from playing though.

Ending things would be easy. All he had to was put the key back in the ignition.

Turn it.

Click.

There would be no coming back from the explosion, even for someone like him. He had made sure of that. There was enough C4 in the car to level several vehicles. At least he had still been sane enough to park out in the middle of nowhere. Just because he had to die, didn't mean he had to take anyone with him.

Yes, he would die. Finally. And it would be easy.

_Angels to some, demons to others._

How true that was.


	2. Chapter 2

Antigua

After finishing up an assignment rescuing victims of a smuggling ring in Malaysia, Henry Sturges decided that now was good a time as any to holiday. This trip though, he was staying away from alcohol. Over the decades he had found that drinking, while pleasant, had an adverse effect on his need for blood. Female company however, wasn't nearly as hard on his system and was much more visually appealing. Fortunately for him, he had never had a problem in _that_ department.

He had a rule however. He didn't fall in love. Since losing Edeva at Adam's hand and then Gabrielle's love to a younger vampire, he made a promise to himself that he would never get close to another woman. He did, however, still allow himself to look and to touch. At the moment the telephone in his hotel room rang, he was lounging in bed with two local girls—Patsy and Veronica were their names, or at least that is what they had told him on the way up to his room. He found both of them pretty and fairly intelligent but their company was nothing more than a pleasant distraction on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Motioning both of them out of the way, he picked up the receiver.

"England. We need you there now."

"And hello to you as well old friend." Henry sighed. He should have been used to Mr. Stolickney's brusque tone by now, but he was still very old fashioned at heart. He considered manners and well spokeness two important traits. Too bad that both tended to be in short supply with those he worked for.

"No time for niceties Henry. It's a simple job really. Retrieve a box and in the process neutralize any related cargo."

"Neutralize any related cargo. That is one hell of a way of putting it." Henry found it sickening how every government organization he had ever worked for had always had the same clinical way of telling him that it was more than alright for him to main, to destroy, to kill. They always used words like _neutralize, contain, _and _erase _as if using such language somehow negated what was actually being done. "What is so important about a simple box Stoli?"

"If my intel is to be believed, it is deadly and cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of any one," Stolickney took a brief pause and then continued. "I've been told that it contains pure madness."

Henry sighed. This was far from being a simple box after all. He should have realised sooner that Stolickney wouldn't have bothered ringing him while he was on holiday for something that a human agent would be able to handle quite easily. _Lovely. In the span of two weeks, I've gone from rescuing girls that were kidnapped by slave traders to a bollocksed up cube that could unleash hell on earth, _Henry thought to himself. "You are speaking of the Lament Configuration, correct?"

"How did you guess that?" Stolickney was always impressed by Henry. Not that he was going to tell him that. He didn't want his top agent to raise his fee based on something as silly and as unquantifiable as a compliment. _That_ was something his own superiors would not take kindly to. "I just didn't take you for the sort to believe in something like that. Most people would consider a gateway to hell on earth to be nothing more than hoodoo voodoo."

"You forget what I am sometimes. If vampires exist then why can't the box exist?"

"So, are you in or not?"

"Yes, I am in." _As if there was any other choice,_ Henry thought. Ever since he had been turned he had gone from training humans to take out his own kind to serving as an agent specializing in kidnapping and slave trade cases. Both jobs, although wholly different, still enabled him to save lives and that was something that he was never going to quit doing. He had to do _something_ to make up for the fact that he had killed and continued to kill in order to survive.

"Excellent. I knew that you would. You'll leave immediately. Johns is in the lobby waiting. Just be quick though, word has filtered to me that one of your competitors is already on his way." And with a click and a crackle, the line went dead.

He may have been on holiday. He may have been tired but the Lament Configuration was something that needed contained quickly and permanently. He was going to do this job and do it well.

He just wished that he had Abraham at his side to help him do it.


	3. Chapter 3

Despite the fact they were sitting in candlelight, Henry could see every emotion that she was feeling. There was anger, hate, even a small bit of love and desire. He saw it in her eyes and the way that she kept pursing her lips as if she was trying to say something but deciding against it every time. It took just a moment though for her face to go blank, losing all expression.

"I do remember everything," she said finally. "I was angry with you for a long time."

"I tried to protect you. You know that."

"I am not talking about _that_. I am talking about later. You should have known I wasn't dead." She shrugged her shoulders at that. Dead wasn't the right word but alive wasn't right either. "It took me longer to turn is all."

"Adam lied, said that those pure of heart didn't turn. If I had known, if I had realised."

"But you didn't. Instead you buried me. Left me," she paused and started playing with the edge of the tablecloth, "Adam came back for me that night."

"What?"

Edeva laughed at that. She had to. "You really think that he was going to leave me? He heard my mind calling to him. He wanted me. He made me feel safe."

"Henry, wake up man. We're here."

"Huh?"

"The airport you fool. Now get going."

Henry was still in a slight daze. Dreaming about Edeva, even when it ended in an inevitable nightmare always tended to do that to him. "Am I in a hurry?" he asked Johns absentmindedly.

"Are you ever _not_ in a hurry? Get moving. Pronto."


	4. Chapter 4

"Ya know what Henry," said Johns as he munched on some M&Ms, "I ought to thank you. Stoli would piss himself if he knew you were taking me with you."

Henry shrugged his shoulders non committedly. "Just don't make me regret it, alright?" If Henry were going to be honest with himself, he'd have admitted it was his still jangled nerves that had made him extend the invitation and not any camaraderie on his part. He liked Johns very much and knew he could handle himself in the field, but ever since Abraham had gone off to train slayers on his own, he had lost his taste for teamwork and much preferred to work solo.

"Hey, did I ever tell you I like your new hairstyle? I am not a fan of the Wham! look but it looks good on you. Very cool, man."

"Seriously? I'm taking you on a job and you are complimenting me on my hair instead of concentrating on the task at hand? You need to focus."

"Excuse me, _old_ man." Johns' good mood deflated, he went back to munching on his candy and started to look at the paperwork that he had originally given to Henry. _So much classified information, damn, Stoli __**really**__ would piss himself if he knew I was looking at it_.

As the plane lurched forward, Johns jumped up in his seat, his braids as well as some not so swallowed peanuts flying and hitting Henry square in the face. "Sorry man, I don't know about this. I am getting nervous. I am not a fan of anything that I can't drive myself." His eyes quickly darted side to side then up and down, large as saucers. "It isn't that I haven't flown before, but I'm all out of Xanax. _That_ is the only way to fly, man!"

"Johns," Henry said as he laid a cool hand on his friend's shoulder, "relax. It's alright. Really." Noticing that no one was paying attention to them at the moment, he peered into Johns eyes and showed just the slightest bit of his fangs. "Don't be one of those horrible and nervous backseat drivers. Do you understand?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Amanda and I'm your chief flight attendant. On behalf of Captain Rutkowski and the entire crew, welcome aboardBritish Airways flight 2157, non-stop service from Antigua to London.

Our **flight time** will be of eight hours and thirty minutes. We will be flying at an altitude of 35000 feet at a speed of 500 miles per hour per hour.

At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Also make sure your seat belt is correctly fastened. Thank you."

"Henry!"

"_What_ is it now?"

"I don't like how she did that announcement. Is it just me or did it sound like she didn't think we were gonna make it?"

It took all of millisecond for Johns to slump back in his seat fast asleep after Henry leaned in for an ever so quick light nip on his neck.

"Are you sure that you know what you are doing?" Evelyn sounded cool and calm as always, only her questioning of Stolickney betrayed her veneer. Normally she trusted him to hand out the assignments but this time she was feeling uneasy. In her younger days, she would have jumped in immediately and aided Henry. Now that she was older and confined to a wheelchair she couldn't do anything but wait and pray. It wasn't an easy pill to swallow.

"What else are we to do? It isn't like we can send Kenneth, Heather or Philip out on this assignment. We need someone with Henry's skills and special physiology."

"You don't think I know that?" Evelyn asked as she carefully lit two cigarettes, offering one to her comrade. "I just hope this doesn't end up being more than even he can handle. He may be unique but even you forget that he is still a man."

"You worry about him too much. You need to get over him."

Evelyn bristled at the suggestion. "Get over him? I owe him my life."

"Aw, but he didn't save your legs and he didn't offer to turn you either, now did he?"

"That is not the point. Besides, I am not sure that I would have said yes if he had asked." The thing was, Henry _had_ offered to bring her across, she had just been too scared to let him go through with it. Now that the moment had long since passed, she was angry that she had said no. _Not that that was any of Stolickney's business._ "I just wish that he didn't have to do this alone."

"It will be alright. Henry is a big boy. He's fought vampires, Nazis, witches, werewolves, mad scientists and even space flowers from space*****. It will be okay. Now quit worrying." With that final admonition, Stolickney took a long drag on his cigarette, hoping that the smoke would drown out any of his own reservations about both the assignment and the threat posed by the man that he had warned Henry was also on his way.

Pinhead was not a patient being. From inside the Lament Configuration he could hear the voices and heartbeats of a million, no a billion beings with ripe and rich souls; all of them waiting and more than willing to undergo the beautiful mechanisations that only he and his minions could provide.

Even now, he knew in what was left of his black heart that one of those beings, a certain man whose soul was not too dissimilar from Pinhead's very own would be unleashing he and his playmates soon.

And what wonderful games they would play with him.

"Sometimes you push too hard Henry."

Henry had nodded. Abraham was right. He was always right.

Henry had always hated London in the winter, had found the weather depressing and even hellish. He had found the place far too chilly and bleak even in the summer; by winter he felt like he was living in a permanent sunset. The weather had been one of the main reasons that he had finally been able to convince his Edeva to sail off to the new world with him. _Not one of my better ideas_, he thought to himself bitterly, as he noticed that even the birds in the park were complaining. Their chirps making a dinging sound in the air as he and Johns walked to their hotel. Johns had been fairly silent since they had landed and for that Henry had been grateful. He fully intended to apologise to him later for his behaviour on the plane but he was too lost in his own thoughts to be bothered at the moment.

Instead as they walked, he thought of Abraham. There had been a time during his training of the then young man that they had had quite the fight. Henry had been in a sour mood, a mood that had happened to coincide with the anniversary of Edeva's death. Instead of staying off to himself, he had instead decided to take it out on Abraham. He had been overly stern and even militaristic that day and during one of their sparring matches, he had been a little too rough and had hurt Abraham. Fortunately, the gash on his arm was a wound that only necessitated a few stitches and some time to heal but Henry couldn't forgive himself. And Abraham saw that in his face quite easily.

"You are forgiven. I know something is wrong, has been wrong all day. What is it?"

"Nothing. Nothing really. I just haven't fed in a while." Henry didn't enjoy lying to any of the humans that he had trained in the past but he had become quiet accomplished at it. None of them even knew that he himself was one of the things that they had learned to destroy under his tutelage. And no matter how great he found Abraham and no matter how much greater he knew that he would become would change that. He couldn't tell him.

"Sometimes you push too hard Henry."

Henry had nodded. Abraham was right. He was always right. "Come. I'll prepare you some dinner and then you can retire for the night. You need the rest."

Henry collapsed on his bed and let out a sigh. "I apologise for earlier. I let my emotions get the better of me."

Johns laughed. "Its cool man. Really." He was already head first into the hotel room's mini bar and Henry could hear him make an approving grunt at what he had found. Pulling out a beer, he spun around smiled. "You want one? They are plenty cold."

Realising that no one knew of his vow to no longer partake he instead lied to his friend. "I'll take a pass on that at the moment. I am thirsty but I have something else in mind." _At least that was a plausible lie._

"Again? What was I? A hor douerve?" Johns asked as he camped out on his bed and started idly flipping through England's finest television entertainment before settling on an inane game show.

"Basically," said Henry as he shrugged his leather jacket back on, "I'll be back in a bit. Would you mind calling Evelyn for me? I need to check in and let her know I've arrived. I'd do it but I'm not in the mood to converse with her right now."

"Sure. Do you need anything else Henry?"

"The name of a good barber."

He had been living in his small cabin in Kentucky for only a few weeks when he had first heard the tiniest of voices in his mind. Almost imperceptible to even his hearing, it nonetheless knawed at him, getting louder and more intense. Finally, it was like a scream; saying his name over and over. He had never really believed in psychic phenomena. However, ever since he had become one of the detestable, murderous wretches that he had despised in life, he had had more weird experiences than he could count. He could no longer ignore the voice he heard, no more than he could deny what he was and what he had done that day almost two decades previous.

No, he wasn't in London because he loved the city in winter.

No, he wasn't in London to see the sights.

He was in London for the same reason that Henry was. To possess the box. To destroy it.

At least that is what he had written in his journal over and over on his way to the city.

In all honesty, he didn't really give a damn about stopping the hell contained in the box and that scared him. He only wanted to see Henry again. He wanted to make things right.

It had been 20 years since he had left Henry under the pretence that he had found a new slayer for them to train. It was time for them to reunite.

Paulina carefully leafed through the neat and tidy pile of papers in Evelyn's safe, carefully sliding out one specific file before she closed it. _That'll get the little bitch._ She strode out of the room, as a surge of adrenaline kicked through her veins. Finally, she would be able to take down Evelyn, Stolickney and Henry. If that didn't vindicate her with her boss, nothing would.


End file.
